Politico's Mike Allen reports this morning what has been a pretty safe bet for weeks: Tampa will host the 2012 Republican National Convention in late August of 2012 (an official announcement will be made later today).
As most readers are well aware, Tampa was an also-ran for the 2004 and 2008 RNC's, and by that factor alone, was going to be a favorite in getting the 2012 convention.
But the city's chances grew after only Phoenix and Salt Lake City made competing bids. At that point, it was pretty apparent that Tampa, and the state of Florida, were not going to get the run around as in previous years.
This article appears in May 5-11, 2010.